Better Software Lets You Kick Back and Do Your Taxes-NYT

Trying to do a tax return while lying on the couch, iPad balanced on my chest and a basketball game playing in the background, was admittedly distracting. My eyes kept drifting from the alternative minimum tax to the screen — which felt right, because I like the Los Angeles Lakers about as much as I like the I.R.S.

The fact that I could toil on a return in such laid-back circumstances shows how far tax preparation programs have come. The three major companies — TurboTax, H&R Block and TaxACT — now offer online products and apps that enable you to bounce back and forth between your computer, your tablet and your smartphone as you work on your return. And this year’s tablet apps represent an important advance: They let you fill out your return by tapping and swiping through interviews about your life circumstances, income and expenses. If you reach a point where you’d rather use an old-fashioned keyboard, you save your work, switch to your desktop or laptop computer and pick up where you left off.

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Software from TaxACT, TurboTax and H&R Block has improved considerably, though each program offers specific strengths for different filers. Credit Sonny Figueroa/The New York Times

For this review, I tried TurboTax Home & Business, H&R Block Premium and TaxACT’s Ultimate Bundle. Based on my experiences, all three work fine for a family with a house, an investment portfolio composed mostly of mutual funds and additional income from freelance work. The strengths by which each maker has distinguished itself endure. TurboTax was headache-free — everything I had to do within the program was intuitive and worked without a catch. H&R Block offered the easiest access to tax advisers and, in my nonprofessional opinion, the best advice. TaxACT remains a bargain.

When I was using the programs in late January, TurboTax was charging $80 for Home and Business and $37 for each state return. H&R Block was charging $50 for Premium and $37 for each state return. TaxACT was charging $20 for its Ultimate Bundle, which includes a federal and a state return. (These prices can change, and downloadable versions cost more.)

My guess is that technophiles will prefer TurboTax, worriers will gravitate to H&R Block and the thrifty will opt for TaxACT. My experiences may explain why.

TurboTax

The biggest time saver offered by all three programs is the ability to import personal and financial information. TurboTax has long excelled here. This year, I imported a PDF of my family’s last return to TurboTax’s cloud without problems. From there, I jumped into the interview questions. Thanks to the import, there was little information to type besides this year’s numbers, and many of those could be pulled in electronically. TurboTax can import information from more than one million employers and financial companies, said Colleen A. Gatlin, spokeswoman for Intuit, the company that makes TurboTax.

TurboTax also provided the best smartphone app. Ms. Gatlin said the phone app had nearly all the same features as the online program, including the option to file an itemized return. (The phone apps for H&R Block and TaxACT allow only for simpler returns.) I couldn’t test every feature of the TurboTax app, but I used it enough to annoy my wife — playing with our return in the grocery store and restaurants — and I was impressed by how easy it was to use. People who don’t itemize can use any of the three to file.

 

 

A concern about TurboTax this year might be security, given the news on Feb. 6 about attempts to use the program to file bogus returns. At the time, Intuit temporarily suspended the electronic filing of state returns after seeing an uptick in suspicious filings. Ms. Gatlin said that the attempts had not resulted from the breaches of Intuit’s security, but rather from identity thefts elsewhere, and that normal filing had resumed within about a day.

When I review tax software, I try to test the company’s customer service by posing a question about the tax consequences of an unusual situation my spouse and I face. This time, it was her sabbatical from her job as a professor. I asked whether we could deduct the travel and lodging expenses from her stints at two universities far from home.

TurboTax offers several kinds of assistance. First is its online community, AnswerXchange, which the website says is composed of “TurboTax support experts and customers just like you.” (Given my near total ignorance of tax law, I’m not sure I want guidance from the likes of me.) The community resembles the comment string at the end of an online article or blog posting: You can pose a question, and registered users can answer. Or you can search previously answered questions.

I dutifully filed my question, and a community member, who called herself TurboTaxNatasha, responded to my inquiry within an hour. She suggested that a sabbatical might count as nondeductible “educational travel.” I pointed out that my wife’s sabbatical was primarily devoted to research, not sipping sauvignon blanc in the south of France. TurboTaxNatasha waffled: “I recommend that your wife speak with her employer or contact the I.R.S. directly.” I wondered how “help” from TurboTax could entail instructions to call the I.R.S. That seemed more akin to punishment — especially since the tax agency has warned that this year’s telephone wait times could top 30 minutes.

I then tried TurboTax’s phone assistance — and inadvertently misdialed the software help line. Eventually, I ended up in the right place and reached a TurboTax representative who identified herself as Bonnie P. We chatted for about 15 minutes. She quizzed me and concluded that the sabbatical expenses were probably deductible — they were work-related and seemed necessary — but added that she knew of no applicable I.R.S. regulation.

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TurboTax employees helping online customers early this month in San Diego during the tax-filing rush period. Credit T. Lynne Pixley for The New York Times

H&R Block

Getting an answer from H&R Block proved easier, which highlighted the company’s strength. H&R Block uses its nationwide staff of tax pros — it operates a chain of more than 11,000 tax preparation shops — to backstop its online customer service.

As with TurboTax, you’re encouraged to start by searching a repository of previously answered questions. If that doesn’t work, you can click on a box taking you to an online chat or a phone number. I opted for the web chat and soon reached “Young L.” Young pointed me to a passage in the 2014 I.R.S. Publication 17 tax guide. It explained that a professor’s expenses relating to research and teaching, including travel, often can be deducted, but the wording did offer a little wiggle room for the I.R.S.

That’s not the only way H&R Block distinguishes itself. The company also offers customers the promise of in-person representation by an H&R Block expert, at no additional cost, in the case of an I.R.S. audit. Audits are rare — the I.R.S. does in-person examinations of about only 1 percent of returns — but the guarantee is like an insurance policy: a major relief if needed. TurboTax charges Home and Business customers $60 for this service, and TaxACT charges $40 for all filers. Both require that you buy it before filing your return.

Otherwise, H&R Block’s software worked much like TurboTax, though not as smoothly. For reasons unclear (the fault could have been mine) my browser, Safari, froze as I was importing last year’s return to the H&R Block website. I quit and signed into my online account again, and the pertinent information was there.

Tax filing will be different this year because of the Affordable Care Act. For the first time, people must provide their health insurance information on their returns, so all three programs include this topic in their interview questions. If you have employer-provided insurance, you simply answer a few yes-or-no questions, no matter which program you use.

H&R Block also has added an informative feature called Refund Reveal. All three programs keep a running tally of your tax payment or refund as you answer their interview questions. With H&R Block, if you click on that amount, you see a breakdown of what’s contributing to your total. TaxACT gives a less detailed tally.

TaxACT

TaxACT provided the most improved experience this year.

In the past, I’ve occasionally found it more difficult to use than TurboTax or H&R Block, and once in a while its instructions would confuse me. This year, the online program wouldn’t import the PDF of last year’s return. When I tried, I got a message saying the upload had failed, which meant I had to type everything in. But beyond that, its offering and apps worked just as well as the others.

Like TurboTax and H&R Block, the program asks questions about your circumstances and finances. There is a difference, however. The interview seems to mention farming more often, perhaps reflecting the company’s roots in the Corn Belt. (TaxACT is based in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.)

I emailed TaxACT, too, with my question about the sabbatical expenses. One of its helpers, Jeff, emailed back within four hours. He didn’t confirm that we could get a deduction, but he did provide a critical piece of information, explaining the I.R.S.’s definition of ordinary and necessary business expenses.

Finally, TaxACT’s prices continue to impress. For a federal and a state return, it would have cost my family nearly $100 less than TurboTax — recall that TaxACT’s Ultimate Bundle is only $20. If you fret over the portion of your paycheck that’s given to Uncle Sam — and who doesn’t? — it might be worth a try.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/business/yourtaxes/reviewing-tax-preparation-software-that-maneuvers-from-mobile-to-desktop.html?emc=edit_my_20150217&nl=your-money&nlid=32663937&_r=0

Tools for finding PC-performance bottlenecks-by Fred Langa

By Fred Langa

That old saying, "A chain is only as strong as its weakest link," has its Windows analogue: "A PC is only as fast as its slowest subsystem."

You can use Windows' built-in performance-monitoring tools to detect which of your PC's major subsystems could be causing slowdowns.

Ideally, a PC's four major hardware subsystems — CPU, drive, memory (RAM), and networking — work together as a seamless whole, handing tasks off from one to another without delay or difficulty.

But if one subsystem can't keep up with its workload, the entire PC can bog down while the other subsystems wait for it to catch up.

Fortunately, there's an easy way to tell whether your PC has a hardware-based bottleneck.

All versions of Windows starting with Vista include a graphical performance-monitoring tool (Win7 and Win8 actually offer two) that shows, in near-real-time, how a PC's major hardware subsystems are being affected by their workload.

These monitoring tools vary somewhat, depending on the Windows version (even the names are different), but they're all extremely simple to use for basic performance monitoring. Side-by-side graphs display each subsystem's moment-by-moment level of activity, giving you a visual representation of workload changes, even as you run tasks on the PC.

Figure 1 shows an example clipped from Win8's Task Manager. Other monitor-tool versions look somewhat different but convey the same type of information.

Figure 1. Task Manager displaying subsystem activity for a healthy Win8 PC under a light workload

If your system has a hardware bottleneck, at least one of the graphs will be seriously out of step with the others. It'll typically show a sustained, high level of activity, while other subsystems have relatively low activity levels. For example, Figure 2 shows C: drive access pegged at 100 percent.

Figure 2. A serious mismatch in subsystem activity — 100 percent C: drive utilization — might indicate a bottleneck worth investigation.

Keep in mind, however, that every instance of high activity doesn't necessarily represent a true bottleneck. Sometimes, high subsystem activity is due to totally benign causes, as I'll show in a moment.

But if the monitors show that a particular hardware subsystem is routinely or frequently maxed out during normal, everyday system operations, the subsystem is likely to be the weak link in your PC's performance chain. It's probably the cause of most system slowdowns.

Deciphering Windows' built-in performance-monitoring tools. The rest of this article will show how to access and use Windows' performance-monitoring tools. I'll explain how to interpret what the graphs reveal and what to do if you suspect you've found a bottleneck.

Although this article focuses just on troubleshooting hardware-based bottlenecks, Windows' monitoring tools also provide detailed, fine-grained information about numerous aspects of software performance. Below, you'll find links to additional information for exploring more advanced monitoring-tool uses.

Accessing Win8's dual performance monitors

Windows 8 has a pair of performance monitors; the easiest to access and use is the Performance tab built into Win8's Task Manager. It's significantly more useful and better-looking than its Windows 7 counterpart.

To access it, open Task Manager by your preferred method — Win8.1 offers several ways. For example, there's the classic Ctrl + Alt + Del method. But you can also pop up the advanced-user menu by either clicking Windows key + x or right-clicking the Start button on the Desktop. Whichever menu you get to, select Task Manager.

You can open Task Manager directly by clicking Ctrl + Shift + Esc or by right-clicking an empty space on the Taskbar and selecting Task Manager. (If Task Manager opens as a small, relatively simple window, click the More details link at the bottom.)

With Task Manager open, select the Performance tab. You'll see a window that looks something like that shown in Figure 3 (though, of course, your performance details will differ).

Figure 3. Win8's Task Manager/Performance view is the easiest and best-looking performance-graphing tool Microsoft has ever offered.

Windows 8 also offers a version of the classic Windows Resource Monitor, which provides an extensive list of highly detailed performance-monitoring functions. The Win8 Resource Monitor operates much like the Win7 version, described in the next section.

Win8's Resource Monitor is available from Task Manager — simply click the Open Resource Monitor link at the bottom of the window. You can, of course, also enter resmon into the Win8 search box and click its name when it appears. Once open, Win8's Resource Monitor will look similar to Figure 4.

Figure 4. Win8's Resource Monitor still has an old-school look, but it lets you drill deeply into system-performance information.

For more information on Win8's Performance Monitor and Resource Monitor, see:

• "A visual tour of Win8's new Task Manager" – June 12, 2014, Best Practices
• "Windows 8 Task Manager in-depth" – Microsoft Windows blog
• "The Windows 8 Task Manager" – MSDN blog
• "Performance management: Monitoring CPU resources" – TechNet blog.

Note: Microsoft offers scant help for Win8's Resource Monitor. But as mentioned earlier, the Win8 tool operates much like Win7's. See the Win7 "More information" links below for additional guidance.

Accessing Win7's performance-monitoring tools

Windows 7's Task Manager also has a Performance tab. But as noted above, it's far more limited than its Win8 counterpart. I recommend skipping directly to Win7's Resource Monitor. Either click the link at the bottom of the Performance tab in Task Manager, or click Start and enter resmon into the search box. Click resmon when it appears. (You might be prompted for admin permission.) Win7's Resource Monitor will look like what's shown in Figure 5. (It's nearly identical to the Win8 version shown in Figure 4.)

Figure 5. Like its Win8 counterpart, Win7's Resource Monitor provides a detailed look at what's going on inside Windows.

For more information on performance monitoring in Win7, see:

• "What's new in performance and reliability monitoring" – TechNet page
• "Performance monitoring getting started guide" – TechNet page
• "Resource availability troubleshooting getting started guide" – TechNet page.

Vista's Reliability and Performance Monitor

The Reliability and Performance Monitor tool is located in Vista's Management Console.

To access it, click Start, right-click Computer, and then click Manage. (Again, you might be asked for admin permission.) When the Computer Management console opens, click Reliability and Performance in the left pane (see Figure 6).

Figure 6. Vista's Reliability and Performance monitor is found within the Computer Management console.

For more information, see:

• "Windows Vista performance and reliability monitoring step-by-step guide" – TechNet page
• "Selected scenarios for monitoring performance with Windows Vista" – TechNet page

Using Windows' performance-monitoring tools

To save space, I'll refer to all of Windows' performance-monitoring tools — Win8's Task Manager–based Performance monitor, Win7's and Win8's Resource Monitor, and Vista's Reliability and Performance Monitor — by the generic name of performance monitor.

The best way to check your PC for hardware bottlenecks is to open a performance monitor and position its graphs so that they're visible — or at least easily accessible — while you go about your everyday computing tasks.

While you work, keep an eye on the performance graphs; you want to become familiar with how your PC responds to varying workloads. For example, note drive, CPU, and networking activity as you open applications, copy large and small files from one place to another, and download videos from the Web.

At times, some or all of your hardware subsystems will have relatively short bursts of maximum usage. That's completely normal; it's not necessarily a sign of trouble. In fact, it's what you want: to execute tasks as quickly as it can, a PC should bring all available resources to bear.

Some tasks will give one subsystem a long and heavy workout. For example, the Disk graph should show maximum activity when you're running a full system backup. If you're recalculating a giant spreadsheet or editing and rendering a large video file, you'd expect your CPU to be working flat-out for a while.

Such easily explained, high levels of sustained activity are generally not signs of a severe system bottleneck. On the other hand, frequent and/or long, unexplained slowdowns — especially during routine, day-to-day operations that shouldn't cause trouble — are another matter.

When your PC suddenly slows for no apparent reason, take a look at your performance graphs. If one particular subsystem is frequently registering sustained, maximum activity while the other subsystems are operating at much lower levels, it's almost assuredly the processing bottleneck.

Balancing performance across all subsystems

Obviously, it makes no sense to have a super-fast CPU and a slow hard drive or to try running memory-intensive applications such as virtual machines or video editing with just 2GB of RAM. If one subsystem is a frequent bottleneck for your computing work, you can improve performance by servicing, upgrading, or replacing that subsystem. Here are some ideas.

Disk bottlenecks: If performance monitoring indicates that a hard drive is causing frequent slowdowns, first try to correct the problem with a full round of disk maintenance and diagnostics. For how-to information, see the Jan. 16, 2014, Top Story, "Keep a healthy PC: A routine-maintenance guide"; skip down to the subsection labeled "Disk health."

If your hard drive is FAT-formatted (e.g., FAT32), consider converting it to NTFS, which is usually faster. The Windows built-in convert.exe tool can perform this conversion on the fly. See the Microsoft Windows article, "Convert a hard disk or partition to NTFS format."

Obscure drive alignment problems can also rob performance, especially on traditional, spinning-platter drives. For a discussion of drive alignment and some suggested tools (free and paid), see the Oct. 4, 2012, LangaList Plus column, "Drive alignment and solid-state drives."

If disk maintenance or software fixes don't improve things, your only real option is to upgrade to a faster hard drive.

Note: Before you shop for a new drive, measure your current drive's throughput and access speed with tools such as the Disk Throughput Tester (free; site) or HD Tune (free/paid; site). Then, when shopping for a new drive, you can focus on only those with significantly better/faster specs.

CPU bottlenecks: Visit your system vendor's website or the mainboard/chip manufacturer's site to see whether it offers diagnostic software. CPUs and mainboards are often tested as a unit. For example, Intel's Diagnostic and Performance Tools page offers links and descriptions for dozens of tools used to test CPUs and mainboards.

Other examples include the Dell diagnostic Knowledge Base webpage and HP's "Testing for hardware failures (Windows 7)" page.

If your CPU/mainboard is healthy, you're left with upgrading to a processor with more cores (info) and/or a higher clock rate (info). That might be possible, depending on the type of components and age of your system. But it's far simpler, surer, and — in the long run — usually less expensive to simply replace the entire PC with a newer, faster model — one whose components were designed to work together from the start.

Memory (RAM) bottlenecks: Check the memory subsystem's health with Microsoft's free Windows Memory Diagnostics Tool (MS Windows page). You can also try third-party tools such as the free, open-source Memtest86 (site) or Memtest86+ (site).

If your RAM is healthy, and you routinely come close to using all available memory, your best option is to add more RAM. Check your system documentation for the type and speed of memory chip the machine can use. If all memory slots are filled, you might have to replace your current memory modules with higher-capacity versions.

If your system already has all the RAM it can support, your only real option is a new mainboard or — far more simply — a new system.

Network bottlenecks: Networking problems can affect transfer speeds with network-attached storage devices and your ability to work online, but they rarely cause a general PC slowdown. Most networking issues are outside the PC — problems with cables, modems, and routers; Wi-Fi saturation; and so on. Still, for completeness, here's how to check for bottlenecks in a PC's networking subsystem.

First, run Windows' Network Diagnostics tool to see whether there's an easily correctable software or configuration problem. To do so, right-click the network icon in the Windows desktop's notification area. (If it's not visible, click the small "Show hidden icons" triangle icon in the notification area.) Select Troubleshoot problems and then let the automated repair tools do their thing.

If you prefer a more focused, manual approach, see "Network diagnostics & tracing in Windows 7" in a TechNet Magazine page. (Win8's and Vista's diagnostics are similar.)

Next, test your PC networking hardware with whatever tools the manufacturer offers. For example, Intel's "Administrative tools for Intel network adapters" page offers a collection of free diagnostic and management tools. A Realtek page offers a variety of similar tools for its networking hardware, including the simply named "Windows Diagnostic Program."

You can dig much deeper, if you wish

Although this article focuses on just one high-level task — identifying hardware bottlenecks — keep in mind that Windows' monitoring tools are actually capable of providing deeply detailed information on both hardware and software performance.

If the information in this article doesn't resolve your performance problem, use the performance-monitoring links provided above for your Windows version. In either case, you'll likely find that current versions of Windows have all the tools needed to track down exactly what's causing PC slowdowns.

Source: http://windowssecrets.com/top-story/tools-for-finding-pc-performance-bottlenecks/

The Ultimate Guide to Watching Online TV with Private Internet Access

Open the door to a world of video-streaming and entertainment through Private Internet Access.
Virtual private networks (VPNs) allow you to push your network traffic through an encrypted tunnel, making it easy to hide your identity, and to browse the Internet securely when using public access points.
Traditionally, they were one of the tricks of the trade for business travelers — VPNs were used primarily for weary, far-flung employees to to access their company’s internal network from public WiFi networks provided hotels and cafes. Other more privacy-concerned organizations used VPNs as a way for remote workers to send privileged communications without the risk of interception.







But more recently, the general public has started to use anonymous VPN services – such as those provided by Private Internet Access — in other, more interesting roles. For example, many use them in order to mitigate against ISP-level censorship, as is common in countries like China, the UAE and yes, even the United Kingdom. Others use VPNs as a tool to defend themselves against government surveillance of the Internet.
As a tool, VPNs are useful and versatile. Indeed, we’re a big fan of them at MakeUseOf and have listed some of the unusual potential applications for VPNs in the past. But did you also know that VPNs can help you catch up on the latest TV shows?
Yes, it’s true. There is a phenomenal amount of streaming websites which allow you to watch the latest shows, but are only available in certain locales. You might be familiar with some of the more prominent ones, such as Hulu, Netflix, and the BBC’s iPlayer.
These sites only allow people living in certain countries to access them. It seems unfair, doesn’t it? Just because you live in France or Germany, doesn’t mean that you should have to go without the latest episode of Family Guy. Similarly, just because you live in the US doesn’t mean that you should have to wait to watch the latest episode of Doctor Who.







With a VPN (we recommend Private Internet Access), you can bypass geographical restrictions by visiting those sites through local VPN endpoints — in other words, the websites will think you’re within the country and allow you access. While you might have already been aware of this geo-restriction workaround, you may not realize the vast quantity of amazing programming you can watch by accessing certain streaming video websites with a VPN.
This guide aims to show you what’s on offer, and to tell you the VPN endpoint you’ll need to use to access it. We’re going to take a trip across the world. From the US, to the UK, and finally Australia. Let’s see what we can watch.

Hulu

Hulu was founded in March 2007 with the vision that people should be able to watch the TV shows they want, legitimately, having to resort to illegal downloading. The principle was simple: you can watch a variety of television shows, clips and movies supported by advertisements. To access certain premium products from Hulu, you might have to pay a flat monthly fee.
Unsurprisingly, Hulu has been nothing short of a huge success. According to Internet ranking service Alexa, Hulu is one of the top 500 visited websites worldwide, and is visited by almost 25 million people each month. It has been a pioneer in the online streaming space.







But, there’s a pretty significant downside. Hulu is only available to residents of the United States and its associated territories, and Japan. That’s bad news for everyone else.
Around 2010, there were rumblings the video-on-demand titan would dip its toe into the European market, and expand into the UK and Ireland. Consumers on this side of the pond waited with baited breath. But unfortunately, due to the complex nature of licensing digital content for streaming, the plans were cancelled.
Which is a shame, because there are some phenomenal television on Hulu. Shows like South Park.








Earlier this year, Hulu signed a three-year deal to exclusively stream the hugely popular and profane animated series by Matt Stone and Trey Parker. The entire catalog of 17 seasons is currently available to stream, in full length and uncensored.
Truth be told, if you love comedy, Hulu has you covered. It has everything you could possibly hope to watch. Their lineup ranges from the bitingly funny Colbert Show, to Scrubs, to the late-night institution that is Saturday Night Live.
If comedy isn’t your thing, Hulu also has no shortage of dramas, thrillers and action shows. Shows like the Vampire Diaries, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, and Nashville.







And much like Amazon and Netflix, Hulu has its own original programming — shows you won’t find anywhere else, from the short-lived but critically acclaimed The Confession starring Keifer Sutherland and John Hurt, to the comedy stylings of Kevin Smith’s The Spoilers, which is their flagship film review show. Think Roger Ebert, but with a severe case of potty mouth.
If you’re not in the US, you can watch these shows on Hulu with a VPN from Private Internet Access. Just set your endpoint to an American one, and you’re golden.

Netflix

When Netflix first opened its subscription service in 1999, it was revolutionary. For the first time ever, consumers could rent movies online instead of having to drive down to Blockbuster and fork over cash for a scratched, beaten-up VHS tape. You’d just have to sign up to Netflix, request a specific film, and within a few days, a DVD was sent to you in the post.
A few things have happened since 1999.








Firstly, DVDs are slowly (but surely) going the way of the cassette tape. Now, everyone’s all about the streaming video. The driving force behind that has been the rise of fast and unmetered household broadband connections. This significant change in the home Internet market has made it possible for people to watch high definition content from their homes, with no physical media involved, and has resulted in the astronomical growth of Netflix.
Almost fifty million people own subscriptions to Netflix, which is available in the United States, Canada, South America and huge swathes of Europe. The march of Netflix shows no signs of stopping, either. Starting in the middle of 2015, it will make its debut appearance in New Zealand and Australia.
So, given that it’s nearly ubiquitous, why would you use a VPN service to watch Netflix?
Well, simply put — regional programming. The programming available in the UK is vastly different in quantity (and quality) than in, say, the United States, or Canada. If you want to catch up on previous seasons of Community, your best bet is Canadian Netflix. If you’re fan of The Thick Of It, or Top Gear, your best bet is British Netflix.









Fortunately, Netflix allows travelers to use their subscriptions in other countries. If you’re a European subscriber and you’re on vacation in the United States, Netflix will treat you like one of their American customers and allow you to enjoy the local offering.
With that said, wherever you are, you’ll be able to catch up on their award-winning original programming. Shows like Orange Is The New Black, which has earned its share of acclaim for dramatization of Piper Kerman’s true story of what happens when an affluent Bostonian’s criminal past catches up with her.
Netflix’s original content also extends into documentaries, such as The Square, which covered the Tahrir Square uprisings in Egypt, and was the first Internet-only documentary to earn an Oscar.







And I can’t not mention Lilyhammer, which features E Street Band member Steven Van Zandt as a New York gangster turned informant, who has found himself adjusting to live in the vastly different world of rural Norway.
Better still, Netflix cannot tell the difference between someone genuinely on vacation and someone connecting over a VPN service. So, what’s on offer?
Well, quite a lot. It’s hard not to overstate the vast differences between regional libraries. At the time of writing, Netflix US had just short of 9,000 movies and shows available to stream. British consumers have to make do with around 3,500 movies.
Your mileage will vary. I’ve found shows exclusively on Netflix Canada or Netflix Mexico. Similarly, some shows are only available in the UK or America. Your best bet is to switch between VPN endpoints.

CBS Online

If you don’t live in United States, you might not be familiar with CBS. But I’m fairly sure you’re familiar some of their work, and the shows they own the licenses to. CBS owns the rights to some of the biggest blockbusters you could care to name. I’m talking about massively successful, international successes.







Successes like Star Trek. Some years ago, CBS acquired Paramount Pictures. With it, they received the rights to Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek franchise. This is a franchise which is stretched for over fifty years and boasts some of the most dedicated fandom of all science fiction. It started with Canadian crooner William Shatner as Captain Kirk, and then went onto have successful reboots in the 90s with Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek DS9 and Star Trek Voyager. We won’t mention Enterprise.
More recently, the American broadcasting titan has had successes with the likes of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation; the latest reboot of the Sherlock Holmes franchise, Elementary, starring Lucy Liu and Jonny Lee Miller; and Two and a Half Men.
But the jewel in CBS’s crown is The Big Bang Theory. Although incredibly divisive, this is one of most watched shows on primetime television. Each episode draws in a mammoth 20 million viewers, and is the number one show in every Nielsen age category, from 2 to 11, to adults 55 and older.







And unsurprisingly, CBS wants a piece of the lucrative web streaming market. So it should come as no surprise they’ve released their own ersatz iPlayer. And you know what? It’s pretty good.
A surprisingly large swath of their catalog is available. Like the BBC’s iPlayer (below), some shows only include recent episodes which aired in the past few weeks. Don’t expect to watch the full back-catalog of Two Broke Girls, The Mentalist, or The Big Bang Theory.







Other shows are different though.
As previously mentioned, the entire Star Trek catalog is available to watch on the CBS player. Every episode, in its entirety. Ditto with Everybody Loves Raymond, Jericho, and Canadian cop drama, Flashpoint. Video quality isn’t too bad. It tends to hover around the 480p mark.
With that said, there’s a catch. From all these shows (in CBC parlance, ‘classics’), only a small selection of episodes are free. If you want the whole thing, you’ll have to become a member of CBS All Access, which is their premium (and paid) streaming package.
And if you’re used to advert-free BBC iPlayer and Netflix, you won’t be too happy to hear that the free episodes come jam-packed with advertising. Expect a 40-minute TV episode to feature at least four advertisement breaks, with each lasting minutes.
If you’re desperate for your Star Trek fix and you don’t fancy opening your wallet, you can circumvent this by watching them on startrek.com. Predictably, this is geo-restricted to customers in the United States, however. To watch it, you’ll need to fire up a US-located VPN, as you will with CBS Online, for that matter.

BBC iPlayer

Founded in 1922, the British Broadcasting Corporation is a media institution of magnificent proportions. With a stated aim of ‘to educate, inform, and entertain’, the BBC has produced some of the most enlightening radio and television programming the world has ever known.
It started life as a smattering of radio stations in the late twenties, before going on to pioneer broadcast television in the late thirties. This was interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War, only to resume in 1946. Since then, it has carved itself out a niche in the British television landscape as a fiercely independent producer of high-brow programming.








And although the BBC is one of the oldest broadcasters in the world, they’ve still managed to modernize. In the mid 70s, they pioneered a system named CEEFAX, which was almost the TV analog of RSS feeds. It allowed users to passively receive up-to-date news through their television sets, transmitted over the airwaves.
And two decades later, BBC launched their digital services. Those with the right kind of TV and receiver could take advantage of crisper, cleaner video and audio.
So, given this track record of innovation, it shouldn’t really come as a surprise that the BBC has managed to create an incredible streaming product that allows viewers to watch their favorite BBC shows, all from their web browser, Internet TV box, tablet, games console, or smartphone.







Meet iPlayer. It’s available on a startling array of devices, and allows you to catch up on videos aired in the past 30 days. It also allows you to watch television shows as it’s being broadcast, although if you’re a UK resident doing this without a TV license, you might be breaking the law. So, what’s on?
Well, if you’re a parent, you’ll certainly get a kick out of Ceebeebies. This is the section of the iPlayer site aimed at toddlers, babies and young children. This boasts a wealth of programming that should be sufficient to keep a child occupied on a rainy afternoon, including the charming Rastamouse and the educational and slightly moralistic Justin’s House.








And for slightly older children, there’s CBBC. This has locally sourced programming, like Terry Deary’s Horrible Histories, as well as American imports, like PBS’s Arthur. For technologically-inclined youngsters, there’s also Technobabble, which gently introduces the viewer how technology impacts the world around them.
We’ve not even mentioned the rest of the BBC’s offerings, yet. Obviously, there’s the likes of Doctor Who, which has captured the attention of fans both young and old for the past fifty years. Petrolheads will enjoy the coarse stylings of the Top Gear crew, whilst fans of drama will enjoy the variety of serials produced by the BBC on a regular basis.
Shows watched on iPlayer aren’t interrupted with adverts, since it is funded by UK license fee payments.
As you might expect though, you’re only going to get the BBC iPlayer in the UK. If you’re outside, you’re going to have to use a VPN service like Private Internet Access. Set your endpoint to the one with the Union Jack.

Channel 4: 4oD

Channel 4 is one of the UK’s four main terrestrial broadcasters, and has an interesting place in British broadcasting history.
It started life in 1982 as an alternative to the duopoly that existed at the time between the BBC and rival broadcaster ITV. And in the next twenty years, Channel 4 carved itself an important place in the UK media landscape. This is largely the result of its fiercely brave documentary programming, as well its tendency (for better, or for worse) to produce shows that pioneer new formats. This is doubly true when it comes to reality television, given Channel 4 was one of the first stations to broadcast Big Brother, which has since enjoyed success in the USA and India.
And not entirely unsurprisingly, Channel 4 programs can be streamed online. Anyone with a smartphone, tablet, computer or smart TV may view their programming through Channel 4’s 4oD player.








But what’s on offer?
Well, one of the biggest strengths of 4oD is its extensive back-catalogue. Unlike the BBC, Channel 4 allows you to stream a huge variety of previously-aired shows.
Shows like Skins. When first broadcast in 2007, it shocked many viewers with its controversial and visceral look into what life is like for teenagers growing up in modern, inner-city England. All seven seasons of Skins are available to stream online.







Channel 4 also produce some phenomenal drama shows. Shows like the darkly-funny Babylon, by Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle, and Peep Show, featuring Mitchell and Webb.
There’s also no shortage of American imports, including The Big Bang Theory.
Their factual broadcasting is something to write home about, too. Their documentary repertoire is too vast to mention, although their standout series is Dispatches, which has tackled everything from social injustice, to poverty in modern day Britain, to regulation of the banking system. Their filmmaking is fierce, and fearless.









Channel 4 also has a decent amount of sports broadcasting. Although they lack premiership soccer and top-tier rugby, they offer other, more niche sports like professional poker, to American football, to cycling. If you have unusual taste in sports, Channel 4 has you covered.
But unlike the BBC’s content, 4oD’s broadcasting are supported by advertising. Although they’re technically publicly funded, they’re very much a commercial entity who fund their works through commercial means. This means advertisements.
But if you don’t fancy watching 4oD through their own website, they also serve their content through YouTube. Although, it’s worth noting that like the main 4oD website, it is only available to viewers based in the United Kingdom.
So, how do you get the best of UK public broadcasting? Through a VPN, of course. Just set your endpoint to the United Kingdom.

ABC’s iView

The UK has the BBC. Canada has the CBC. So, it makes sense that Australia has the ABC.
Founded in 1932, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation is the antipodean equivalent of the BBC, having spent the majority of its life producing high-brow educational and cultural programming. For the first 40 years of its life, it was a radio-only organization, but later, it inevitably joined the television revolution.
Since then, the ABC closely followed the path its British counterpart has taken. It too has launched digital TV stations, leaving the fuzzy analogue world behind, and it too has launched an Internet streaming site.







It’s called iView, and if you want to enjoy the best of the Australian television world, you need to check it out.
But what’s on offer? Admittedly, the ABC doesn’t quite have the blockbuster successes of the BBC. Many of their shows isn’t internationally known, which is a shame. Otherwise, their programming lineup is excellent, particularly their comedy franchises.








Perhaps the most widely known is The Chaser. This six-piece comedy group has had a number of successful runs, including the internationally known Chaser’s War On Everything which was notorious for courting controversy and tabloid outrage. After a brief hiatus, their latest show is The Chaser’s Media Circus, which is currently airing on broadcast television, and can be watched on iView.
And if you remember Summer Heights High, you’ll probably remember Jonah, the slightly recidivist playground bully with a tendency to interrupt his classes with amusing tirades of chain-profanity. He has his own show with Jonah from Tonga, and that’s also available on iView.
There are even some pretty incredible science programming. One standout example is Catalyst. If you’re familiar with Bill Nye The Science Guy or Bang Goes The Theory, this show will feel pretty familiar.
Given the ABC’s close relationship with their British counterpart, it’s hardly surprising there’s also a wealth of British programming. At the time of writing, they’re airing a documentary featuring the life story of Scottish comedian Billy Connolly, featuring former Python Eric Idle, in addition to David Attenborough’s Kingdom Of Plants series and Death In Paradise.








Given Australia’s proud sporting history, it makes sense iView has a lot to offer in this respect. Fans of national, regional and international sport are covered, and there’s everything from basketball to Aussie-rules football.
Like the BBC iPlayer, ABC iView doesn’t run advertising on their online video. It’s always good to know that whatever you watch won’t be interrupted with an advert for dishwasher soap or toothpaste.
As you might expect, watching the best of Aussie TV is easy. Just set your VPN endpoint to Australia, and you’re golden. Mate.

Around The World With A VPN

There’s some great programming here. And we’ve travelled across the Anglophone world, from America to the United Kingdom, to Australia. There’s a lot on offer, and whether you’re a parent looking for some family-friendly viewing for your children, or if you’re just looking for some visceral, cutting-edge comedy, we’re confident there’s a site out there with the right content for you.
But far too often, getting that content isn’t possible without circumventing some geo-restrictions.
We’re able to do that by using a VPN service, and there are no shortage of VPN providers. Indeed, we’ve written about them in the past, and we’re big fans of Private Internet Access. Why?







A few reasons, actually. We love their strong, industry-standard encryption, which prevents governments and ISPs from intercepting our traffic. We love how many endpoints they have, which stretch from America to Romania, to Israel, to Australia, and everywhere in between. We love their hands-off approach to customer privacy, with no logs retained. We love how affordable they are, with a subscription costing only $39.95 per year, which works out to about $3.33 per month. We even love how you can pay with Bitcoin, as well as most major credit cards and Paypal.

You can find out more at their official website.
Are there any other video streaming sites you recommend? Found any clever ways to get around geo-restrictions?

Source: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/the-ultimate-guide-to-watching-online-tv-with-private-internet-access/